Let Them Eat… Potatoes!

From the Inca Empire to Queen Marie Antoinette of France, to the Russian patissiers (pastry chefs), traveled a simple vegetable, to be transformed into a delectable pastry.

Here is this civilization which, starting in the early 13th century, in three hundred years grew into an immense empire and, by the time it was conquered by the Spanish, occupied most of South America. According to historical records, it has spread somewhat by conquest, but mostly by peaceful assimilation. The Incas had an elaborate system of religion, culture, and societal structure, yet to the European eyes, they were missing the staples of civilization: the wheel and the animals to drag wheeled vehicles, the metals, such as iron and steel, and, most importantly, the literacy. No wonder Europeans considered them savages, but objectively, “the Incas were still able to construct one of the greatest imperial states in human history” (McEwan, 2006).

Lacking metals, other than gold, which they had plenty and didn’t really value, the Incas were masters of pottery. This is a drinking vessel, a pitcher, if you will, fashioned as a king’s head.

Here is another one, and you can see the resemblance in style, but the vessel itself is far from royal. Yet, it depicts a very important vegetable, a staple food which in that area dates back to 2500 BCE – a simple potato. Tragically, as we all know, the Incas were conquered, the glorious empire and the majestic kings vanished, but the humble potato survived. It was brought to Spain, together with gold and silver, and planted there, eventually spreading across the entire Europe. It is believed that either Sir Francis Drake or Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to England, but whoever did it first, second, or third is irrelevant.

By the end of the 18th century, a French physician Antoine Parmentier in his “Chemical examination of potatoes” declared their incredible nutritional value, and the humble “foodstuff of the poor” (Bon Jardinier, 1775) made its way to the royal table. Anything that had anything to do with potatoes became so trendy, that Queen Marie Antoinette once wore a headdress of potato flowers to a ball.

Poor Marie Antoinette! When told that people are hungry because they have no bread, she naively exclaimed,”Let them eat cake!” and promptly lost her head together with potato flowers. Actually, this is one of the most mis-attributed quotes in history: nobody heard her say that, and the quote had been attributed to “a great princess,” whoever that might have been.

Marie Antoinette is dead, potato has become one of the most important food components in Europe, but the cake idea is not forgotten. One of the most popular pastries in the 60’s and 70’s Russia was called Kartoshka (potato). It looked like a smallish potato with some creamy curlicues on top, and it was full of chocolate yumminess. Little did we know that it was made of combining all kinds of broken cookies and other leftovers.

One of the Michloach Manot (food gifts) that we received on Purim contained a pack of chocolate tea biscuits. Since Passover is two weeks away, and I am trying to get rid of all bread and baked goods not acceptable on Passover, I had to use them up. So I remembered the Incas, the Queen Marie Antoinette, and the Russian pastries, and set out to make my own Kartoshka. It’s a no-bake no-brainer: pulverize any cookies or graham crackers into powder, mix it with chocolate cream and peanut butter, add some agave (if you want it sweeter) and some rum – and voila! – eat your hat, your majesty!

A couple of little secrets: first, before you start pulsing your cookies in a food processor, put them into a plastic bag and break them up. This way you won’t end up with cookie chunks. Secondly, make your chocolate cream first by stirring room temperature butter substitute (I use Smart Balance) with unsweetened cocoa powder, then add the rest of ingredients. Make sure you blend it very well!

Get ready to make your pastries. Spread some cocoa powder on a sheet of parchment paper. Spread the decoration you want to use on another sheet of parchment paper. I chose to use rainbow sprinkles, to create a festive look. Of course, you can always decorate with some frosting on top.

You know what a potato looks like! Form a potato, roll it in cocoa powder, and then dip it in sprinkles of pipe some frosting on top. They should be very soft, so refrigerate them immediately and keep them refrigerated until ready to serve.

Poor Queen Marie Antoinette who loved potatoes so much that she decorated her hat with them! Had she known about this delicious Kartoshka pastry, perhaps she wouldn’t have uttered the infamous cake advice, and maybe – just maybe! – would have kept her head!

Oh, you just reminded me: when my brother was just learning to speak, my father did something unthinkable – picked up some deep-fried pies from a street vendor, brought them home, and put the bag with them on a kitchen table. My brother, a curious toddler, grabbed one out of the bag, banged the table with it, and asked, “Stone?”

Thank you for history tour, It was really interesting. In Estonia started with potato in the end of 18th century. 1893 was published the first Estonina Potato-Recipe-Book, but still. It take a lot of time to use with this strange vegetable 🙂

Always so enjoy your stories, the history of cooking and food and then your recipes! Added bonus, your beautiful presentation with such fabulous dish ware! Thank you for being a bright light. Happy Spring and Passover!

Some people add some mashed potato to their bread dough. My mother-in-law was one of them; it’s amazing how her cooking has made an imprint on me, so much more than my mother’s!
The French took a while to appreciate this inca root… The story goes that Parmentier had his potato garden guarded during the day but left unprotected at night, so that the local people would be enticed to steal the plants that were apparently so precious! This story is probably not true, but I have always found it amusing and revealing of French temperament 🙄
Surely they might still come and try to steal your delicious Kartoshka… Make sure your windows are well-closed tonight!

My windows are fine, guarded by two attack cats, but Kartoshka is long gone – who needs thieves when my husband gets to a cookie jar!
I am familiar with the story about Parmentier’s garden and always found it amusing. I haven’t used it in this post because my concept was to tie potatoes to the royalty, not to the common folk.
Incorporating mashed potatoes into bread dough is a Polish/Lithuanian/Belorussian practice. Do you like it? I might try with sweet potatoes, after Passover.

Oh yes, potatoes. Because you hit a very sore point here.
Do you know it? Here where we live, this region is called the “Kartoffel-Pfalz”. Alternatively “Steinpfalz”. Apart from stones and potatoes there a very long time there was nothing apart from stones and potatoes. Now we also have beer and other things, too. 😉

I have been to Bavaria, so I am familiar with the region. I don’t know about other things, but if you have beer and potatoes, you should be fine! I managed to get a nice huge green salad at a cafe across the street from Die Alte Pinakothek in Munich, so I was happy, but everyone else there was having beer and potatoes! 🙂

Serious discussion? Me? The last time I had a serious discussion was at my dissertation defense, and that was -ah!- more years ago than I care to remember! Thereafter, I only have serious discussions with my cats. Thank you for your kind comment!

I am one who adores potatoes of all types, but I’ve never had THIS kind. But chocolate and peanut butter? I am ALL IN!

GF cookies are so dear that there are never any left-over, but I’ll bet I can use the flavored GF Rice Checks instead. I’ll let you know when I give it a try.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”